Kate Brown has become the first openly LGBT person to win a gubernatorial election in the United States.

It is noted though that Brown was not the first LGBT person to serve as a governor — former New Jersey Gov Jim McGreevey came out as gay in 2004 and resigned months later.

 

NPR reports that Brown spoke to the Washington Blade last month about what her victory would mean.

“You can’t be what you can’t see,” she said. “If I can be a role model for one young person that decides that their life is worth living because there’s someone like them in the world, it’s worth it.”

OPB has more on Brown’s tenure so far:

“The state’s political scene was roiling from Kitzhaber’s abrupt departure amid a cloud of scandal.

Brown pushed forward with a legislative agenda that included creating an automatic voter registration system, expanding the state’s clean fuels mandate, and implementing a broad transportation funding package.

While the first two items passed with mainly Democratic support, the transportation package failed to even come to a vote.

“As an unelected governor, Brown also was faced with guiding the state through a series of unusual and traumatic events, including a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College that left nine victims dead, a 41-day occupation by an armed group at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a searing drought that affected nearly the entire state, and a derailment of an oil train in the Columbia Gorge.”